24 



THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



■n-ill be from losliip tlio use of the mill at 

 such n time is liard to estimate. The mill 

 run on both hemlock and hardwood. 



• « • 



Sir. H. S. Janes has returned from the 

 Routli. partly on account of poor health. 

 Hard work and the hot sun of Jtississippi 

 are a stronj; combination to fight, from 

 which one has to run away if he means 



to keep up. 



• * • 



Mr. F. W. Vetter, of the Empire Lumber 

 Company, has returned to .Vrkansas to see 

 how eveVvthiuK is runniiiK at the different 

 mills of this concern. Mr. Vetter pins his 

 faith larsely on cypress and says it is sim- 

 ply imiHjsslble to keep up with the orders. 



• * * 



It is just a year ago that Buffalo was 

 under the cloud of a martjTed president 

 and this week is beinjr devoted to holding 

 general, though necessarily sad, exercises 

 in memory of the sad event. 



The Markets. 



CHICAGO. 



To view the niarUct licro in a compara- 

 tive sort of way the signs are not as fav- 

 orable as they might be. The calls are 

 eased off just a bit and though actual trad- 

 ing is not 1111 lie so brisk, there is a great 

 amount i>f Ininlier moving and there is 

 plenty of orders on books to keep things 

 looking briglit, even should tliere lie no 

 new business coming in at all. This is 

 especially true of the carload business. 

 .Tuly and .Vugust, usually the dullest 

 months of the year, have been exactly to 

 the contrary this year, and September, 

 which always marks the beginning of an 

 improvement in demand, has so far fallen 

 behind the business booked in July and 

 August. 



This is the narrow view of the situa- 

 tion. (Jenerally speaking trade is satisfac- 

 tory and tliero is no reason to fear for 

 what the future may bring forth. All 

 kinds and most all classes of hardwoods 

 are in from fair to good demand. Prices 

 are stalile and the suiiply is not burden- 

 some in any of the dilTcrent lines. 



Plain sawed red oak. quartered white 

 oak, poplar and basswood arc much sought 

 after. Maple is still in front and cotton- 

 wood and gum are ready sale, There are 

 no particular changes to note from our 

 last report, except as stated at the begin- 

 ning of this article, to the effect that while 

 trade continues good there is a slightly 

 noticeable tendency to tlag the onward 

 rush. 



the local trade is the way in which 1.he ex- 

 liort shipments are holding up. It has 

 licen years since the foreign markets have 

 stocked up as they are now doing. There 

 have been times during the past year 

 when oak was in stronger demand for the 

 domestic trade than at present, but not 

 for a long time has it been in so heavy de- 

 mand for export as at the present time. 

 Inquiries are being daily received and 

 the shipping is steadily going on. Quartered 

 red oak firsts and seconds seem to have 

 best call at present. Quartered white oak 

 is very scarce and whenever it is offered 

 it brings good prices. The demand for 

 plain sawed stock in firsts and seconds is 

 also very strong and good prices are being 

 realized' for this stock. Number two and 

 three common are having but very slight 

 call and prices on these grades are reason- 

 able. 



NEW YOBK. 



Unless all signs fail, and the volume of 

 business already done the first half of Sep- 

 tember counts for nothing at all, this month 

 is going to break all records in the hard- 

 wood market. The tone of everything in 

 lumber is bullish, so far as the wholesaler 

 is concerned, and the dealer in hardwoods 

 is right in line with the others. There has 

 been an excellent summer trade, supplies 

 are scarce at the mills, hardwoods are 

 needed, and there is absolutely nothing to 

 stop the upward trend of prices. 



Poplar and quartered white oak have 

 started the way, and the other woods will 

 not be long in following them. In fact, 

 manufacturers and dealers in both of the 

 stocks mentioned seem to hope that the 

 increased prices will hold off demand for 

 a while. They claim they can stand it and 

 the chances are that they can without any 

 dittieulty whatever. 



CINCINNATI. 



Judging from the general tone of the 

 market, business is again commencing to 

 improve. 'Tis true that the improvements 

 which have taken place during the past 

 two weeks have been slight and not of 

 such a nature as to cause comment, but it 

 was an improvement nevertheless, and an 

 indication that the fall trade is opening 

 up. 



The weather here during the past week 

 was very fall-like and frosts were general 

 throughout this section. The Ohio River 

 and its ti-ibutaries are very low, and many 

 of the local lumbermen are anxiously wait- 

 ing for a rise, as there is much lumber 

 down the river waiting to come up. The 

 Ohio has not been so low for years and at 

 present all river traffic is stopped. 



Generally speaking the railroads are do- 

 ing a little better and the car situation has 

 been relieved to some extent, although 

 there's still lots of room for improvement. 



About the most satisfactory feature of 



altogether satisfactory, it shows that other 

 large markets have little tlie better of St. 

 Louis in point of lumber supply, and all 

 are taking whatever they can find, green 

 or dry. It is admitted around town that 

 the local supply of dry lumber has been 

 almost entirely wiped out during the past 

 month or more, and that the bulk of the 

 receipts are gi-ass green. This stock can- 

 not possibly be available for shipment be- 

 fore spring, although many are shipping 

 stock to points of consumption which has 

 not been on sticks for more than ninety 

 days, and even then there will be light 

 stocks. It is a situation such as few have 

 ever before experienced and which gives 

 the assurance of higher prices and a con- 

 tinued stretch of higher prices, and this is 

 lending increased confidence to all dealers 

 in all markets. 



ST. LOUIS. 



All reports show thait ti'ade with the St. 

 Louis wholesalers has improved materially 

 since last report and that it shows gains 

 in directions where it was thought im- 

 possible that there could be gains. Stocks 

 were considered too inadequate to take 

 care of even the business doing a month 

 ago, and yet there has been a furtlier de- 

 crease in "all local stocks and a material 

 increase in tlie volume of business. This 

 condition is bringing about a steadiness in 

 values which has not been present at any 

 time this year, and there is at the same 

 time a gradual advance in prices which 

 promises to continue for some time into 

 the future. In the matter first mentioned 

 above, the steadying of values, the local 

 trade is much gratified. During the whole 

 summer, knowing the stock situation both 

 in St. Louis and at the mills, many of the 

 local wholesalers persisted in underselling 

 tlieir competitors to such an extent that 

 prices on the same items varied as much 

 as $3 to $0 at points of consumption, al- 

 though all were in the same poor shape to 

 take care of the visible trade. This has 

 practically ceased and all are now in such 

 shape that they can see furtlier adv.ances 

 in the near future and none are trying to 

 push a single trade by making price con.- 

 cessions. Local receipts have not increased 

 in the least since last report and letters 

 from the buyers in southern states show 

 that, under present conditions, it is prac- 

 tically impossible to increase purchases at 

 the mills. Prices have been advancing 

 very rapidly at that end of the line, more 

 rapidly, in fact, than in the northern coun- 

 try, and close competition with buyers from 

 other markets has had the effect of ma- 

 terially decreasing the amount of lumber 

 which would have otherwise found its way 

 to St. Louis. While this condition is not 



BUFFALO. 



There is no change to speak of in the 

 lumber situation in and around Buffalo 

 since my last letter. The wood is "good" 

 from all quarters. The only complaint one 

 hears is from those who are not able to 

 fill all orders for lack of stock. There 

 never was a time when it was so difficult 

 to get hold of lumber of all kinds, in cer- 

 tain thicknesses for which there are calls 

 from day to day. Ordinarily the yards 

 could rely on one another to help piece out 

 on such ' stock as might be wanted, but 

 there are times when it is impossible to do 

 even this now. 



It is needless to say that in the face of 

 all this prices are very firm, with a de- 

 cidedly upward tendency. In the matter 

 of price on stocks that are scarce and 

 hard to get, the fortunate holders put their 

 own prices, which the would-be buyer 

 pays if he gets the lumber. If he does 

 not feel like paying the price asked, the 

 lumber is held for the next buyer, who 

 will pay the price. There is no such thing 

 as coming down in price these times. It 

 is not asked or expected. Quartered oak 

 remains at the top of the heap as a seller. 

 Plain oak, firsts and seconds, also moves 

 well and brings good prices. 



EVANSVILLE. 



Quartered white oak is scarcer than 

 ever, and so firm in prices that no manu- 

 facturer will even give 2 per cent off the 

 highest quotations. But poplar is even 

 scarcer, and those who have good stock 

 can get almost anything they ask in rea- 

 son. Every indication points to an im- 

 mense fall" trade in this market, with a 

 tendency toward higher prices in the best 

 grades of all woods. Besides this, our 

 millmen cannot see any possible chance 

 for a surplus of stock accumulating be- 

 fore June of next year at soonest. 



Nothing short of a national calamity or 

 a change of administration can possibly 

 lower prices before that time. 



NASHVILLE. 



Light stocks and stiff prices seems to 

 he the rule at Nashville. Chestnut and 

 quartered oak are hard to get. Inquiries 

 for ash are not so plentiful. Plain oak 

 and hickory are in strong call, the latter 

 in those sections of the state where it is 

 found and to which wagon and vehicle 

 manufacturers are flocking. The cedar 

 business is always good and the wood al- 

 ways scarce. In the Nashville district 

 there are one or two concerns who make 

 a specialty of this wood and its products 

 and they report a i-ushing fall business. 

 The export situation is reported better as 

 regards the Germany trade and also some 

 better from England, with greater conten- 

 tion in that quarter as to prices. 



